Saturday, February 02, 2013

Kolkata: Officials at the city airport evidently did not learn anything from the radar blackout two and a half years ago, an oversight that led to Thursday night's incident that put the lives of 1,000-plus fliers in peril. Also fuel worth millions was burnt over Kolkata, adding to the pollution, as incoming flights hovered till they got the nod to land.
NSCBI Airport sources told TOI the radars had blanked out for 35 to 40 minutes in August 2010 following a short circuit in the distribution box that connects power supply to different radar display monitors. The box is located on the seventh floor of the radar terminal building. Though a report was prepared after the incident, no inquiry was held.
One of the engineers present at the time told TOI that the vulnerability of routing the power through a single distribution box was discussed internally and it was felt that an alternative feed should be there. Though the distribution box was changed, no spare capacity was built in to take care of exigency.
02/02/13 Subhro Niyogi/Times of India